SUNDAY PROFILE: Less ado for Oscars, but advertisers won’t skip the show

Years of declining viewing figures haven’t put many companies off from shelling out for access to highly prized demographics

By Stuart Elliott / NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK

“When people watch the Oscars, they’re watching the best films of the year, the best stories of the year, the most inspiring,” McKeon said. “It’s the right place for this brand to be.”

The True North commercials present everyday Americans who, according to Regan Ebert, a vice president and general manager at Frito-Lay North America in Plano, Texas, “have found their true north, their true passion, and inspire others.”

One spot will reveal the winner of an essay contest sponsored by True North, which Ebert said had drawn 2,300 entries. The spot was directed by the actress (and Oscar winner) Helen Hunt.

The show is an effective way to reach female consumers. It is often referred to as “the Super Bowl for women” because in many years, more women watch the Academy Awards than the Super Bowl.

“The audience is a good fit with our target,” said Caren Pasquale Seckler, group director for low-calorie colas at the Coca-Cola North America unit of the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, which will advertise the female-friendly brand Diet Coke with commercials from Wieden & Kennedy in Portland, Oregon.

One Diet Coke spot, featuring the supermodel Heidi Klum, promotes heart health for women. The other features Tom Colicchio of the reality series Top Chef. The spots bring back the slogan “Just for the taste of it,” which helped introduce Diet Coke in 1982.

In addition to the spots for Diet Coke, there will be three commercials for Coca-Cola, also by Wieden & Kennedy.

Hoover, too, is counting on the large female audience to respond to the Platinum Collection line, said Danny Robinson, senior vice president and creative director at Martin. “This is a big launch,” he added. “We needed to find a big venue.”

All six commercials that J.C. Penney Co intends to run during the Oscars will be for new clothing lines aimed at women.

The spots, by Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, part of the Publicis Groupe, promote labels that include Allen B., from Allen B. Schwartz; Fabulosity, from Kimora Lee Simmons; and Nicole, from Nicole Miller.

In a nod to the economy, the spots will play up the prices for the clothing lines, which Mike Boylson, chief marketing officer at Penney in Plano, described as affordable.

The Oscar show attracts more educated, affluent viewers than most television programs.

“It gets us to an audience we’ve been trying to get to for some time,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president for marketing at Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley, California, part of the Hyundai Motor Co.

To appeal to those viewers, one of the eight commercials for Hyundai Motor America — the sole automotive sponsor during the broadcast — will feature the cellist Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友). The spot promotes the 2010 Hyundai Genesis coupe.

Among the other Hyundai commercials is one, which runs 60 seconds, that is centered on Hyundai Motor’s operations in the US and, in another nod to the economy, discusses the company’s employment of tens of thousands of Americans.

The Hyundai commercials were created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, part of the Omnicom Group.

For the first time, movie studios are being allowed to run commercials during the Oscars after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences changed its policy that banned such spots.

Among the studios buying commercials are Paramount, for The Soloist, and Touchstone, part of Disney, for The Proposal.